D.I.Y. Techie-Toot #1 "Router/ Wireless Repeater."

       I've decided to include the odd geeky tutorial here to get to know the various gadgets that you may have purchased and are not getting the full benefit from or don't know the potential of what you've just blown your paycheck on... :p
       Hopefully they'll come in handy for some of you!! :D

#1

Using Your Xtra (just gathering dust) Router To Xtend Your Home Network Signal ;)

A.     Setup your extisting wireless router:
     This is the router which directly connects to your existing modem. There is nothing special here about the set up for this router. Any router can act as your primary router. Just enable DHCP server on it and configure it in a basic 192.168.x.x subnet. Remember, this router will be the only router with a DHCP server on your entire network.  Setup your wireless security within this router.(WEP, WPA, WPA2 etc) Take note of the SSID(Network name) and Security key. Your secondary router will connect to this router using same SSID settings. ;)


B.     Setup your secondary router using the "dd-wrt" custom firmware.
         (this custom firmware will allow for the repeater functionality)
Visit dd-wrt.com to download and instructions to flash the appropriate firmware for your router model. :)
 *it's easy trust me

1.    Once you've flashed dd-wrt to your secondary router, go to the router admin page. Disable the DHCP server by going to Setup/Basic Setup as shown in the image below.
2.     On the Setup/Basic Setup page, choose an IP address for the router.  Assuming that your original router's IP address is 192.168.1.1, change this router's IP address to 192.168.1.2. Input gateway and Local DNS as 192.168.1.1. Select Save Settings.

  

Note:  Because you've just change the secondary router's IP address in the previous step, log on to the router using its NEW IP address 192.168.1.2. ;)

3.     Once logged on, go to the Wireless/Basic Settings page, change Wireless Mode to Repeater Bridge, Wireless network mode to Mixed, make the SSID(same as main router ssid), change Network Configuration to Bridged. Select Save. 

In the virtual interface, click on "Add". Enter wireless network name (same as the main router SSID). Enable SSID Broadcast, Network Configuration Bridged. Save and Apply Settings.

4.     Go to Security/Firewall and proceed to uncheck all of the boxes, except "Filter Multicast". Then disable SPI firewall and click Save and Apply Settings.
5.     Go to Wireless/Wireless Security . Enter the security mode(WEP, WPA, WPA2 etc) and security key/phrase from your original router.
Note: The security mode and security key MUST match the original security mode and security key of the primary router. Select Save Settings.
Do exactly the same on the virtual interface below.
Select the security and security mode the same as the main interface.

Congrats! You've just turned your old, dusty router (that you thought you'd get rid of on Kijiji) into a power house Repeater that would've cost an arm & a leg!  Your all set. Check the signal connection by going to Status/Wireless page in your new repeater.

I hope was helpful.